Police Thanked, Road Projects Advance In Brick

The Township Council discusses road projects at a recent meeting. (Photo by Judy Smestad-Nunn)

BRICK –  In the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 20, Brick police responded to a total of seven 911 calls reporting a domestic disturbance, and to one 911 call reporting a domestic assault taking place at 141 Meridian Drive, in the Midstreams section of the township, according to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office.

Four Brick police officers were dispatched to the scene where they encountered the male suspect involved in the domestic violence events, and who was armed with a handgun, resulting in the officers discharging their service weapons and killing the suspect.

“The officers were confronted with the worst possible situation that you can imagine: a domestic violence call – a person opened fire on them,” said Mayor John G. Ducey during the Aug. 22 council meeting.

The police officers are safe, and are not physically harmed, he said.

“The officers protected us, the public, as they were trained to do. There was a fatality of the shooter. No other harm was done to the other people involved in the incident, or any other member of the public,” Ducey said.

The prosecutor’s office is investigating, as they always do in these situations, the mayor added.

“I just want to thank our officers for what they do every single day and every single night when they’re away from their families, when we’re all in bed being protected, and also thank God that additional harm was not done to all the innocents involved,” Ducey said.

Roadway Improvements

In other news, an additional $114,970 is needed to complete the Riviera Beach Roadway Improvements Phase 1 Project, said Council President Art Halloran.

Mayor John G. Ducey, with business administrator Joanne Bergin and township attorney Scott W. Kenneally, updates residents on the latest news. (Photo by Judy Smestad-Nunn)

The intent of the project is to repair the sections of the roadway that were in such a state of disrepair that a new surface course could not be placed over the existing pavement, Halloran said.

During the course of this contract, additional areas of pavement degradation were encountered that need to be corrected and reconstructed, he said.

“As we moved through the development, it was discovered that many have deteriorated to the point where microsurface would not help and would be a waste, therefore areas of pavement repair were expanded,” Halloran explained.

As a result there is a decrease in the amount of roads that need to be resurfaced later because pavement is much more costly than microsurface.

“While it might be more expensive overall, the resulting condition of the roads within the neighborhood will be a far better result,” he said.

The change order was authorized to Meco, Inc. who was awarded the contract that has been increased from $602,366 to $717,336.

Mayor John G. Ducey said that the Riviera Beach Roadway Improvement Phase 1 Project was the last project authorized under the previous administration.

He said the former administration did not send their engineers out to ascertain the road conditions before road projects began.

“We changed that about two and a half years ago because we saw what was happening,” Ducey said.

“We have our engineers go out there right before the project begins so they know exactly in real time what is happening, not something that happened six years ago when they designed the roadways,” he said.

When the engineer and the contractor went out to do the work they discovered that the roads were in worse shape than they thought they were, so just coating the surface wasn’t enough, he said.

The Lake Riviera Roadway Improvement Project Phase 1 includes: Evergreen Drive, Dogwood Drive, Hawaii Drive, Lake Oak Place, the remainder of Lake Shore Drive (Vermont Dr. to the park pavement seam from Phase II), Essex Drive (from Phase 2/Montana Drive to terminus at Vermont), Delaware Drive, Red Cedar Drive, Timberline Place, Wisteria Drive (from Huxley to Vermont), Emerald Drive, Florida Drive, Mulberry Place, Crystal Drive and the end segment of Virginia Drive (from Spruce to Emerald Drive).

The next council meeting will be on Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m.